machineries_of_empirefandomcom-20200213-history
Deuce of Gears
The Deuce of Gears is a jeng-zai card from the Gears suite. It is infamous for having been used as the personal emblem of General Shuos Jedao. Description The Deuce of Gears is the second card in the Gears suite. It symbolizes a "cog in the machine," an insignificant pawn of powers beyond one's control. Reversed, it connotes devious plans and the breaking of barriers of possibility.Jeng-zai: Gears The card traditionally features two interlocked toothed gears, one larger and one smaller.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10 Like the rest of the Gears suite, the Deuce was originally associated with the Nirai and is depicted in their colors, silver on black. It was not considered particularly unluckyRevenant Gun, Chapter 7 until its use as Jedao's personal emblem irrevocably associated it with the brilliant career that ended in his treasonous massacre at Hellspin Fortress.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18 History General Shuos Jedao chose the Deuce of Gears as his personal emblem due to its symbolism of a "cog in the machine," a show of submission to Kel Command as a Shuos high officer seconded to the Kel.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18 His emblem displayed the Deuce in Shuos colors, gold on a field of red, with a lightning-crack through the leftward larger gear.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 23 Jedao's successful career irrevocably associated the Deuce with his legacy. After the Hellspin Fortress massacre, jeng-zai card designers tied themselves in knots trying to design versions of the Deuce that did not evoke his emblem.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18 During the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles, Jedao and Brevet General Kel Cheris used the null emblem as their banner instead of the Deuce.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 7 They subsequently used the Deuce as a firing pattern in their assault on the Fortress's shields, a move Commander Kel Nerevor felt was "practically bannering the Deuce."Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10 After Jedao took over General Kel Khiruev's Swanknot swarm, the swarm bannered the Deuce instead of Khiruev's Swanknot.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6 Jedao subsequently used the Deuce to head propaganda broadcasts. As the swarm pursued an invading Hafn swarm, a system with a moon-city and orbital station broadcast the Deuce to deter the Hafn from attacking them by evoking association with Jedao, despite the danger of being scoured by the hexarchate afterwards.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 17 Resurrected nine years later, Jedao remembered the Deuce only as a Nirai-associated jeng-zai card. Hexarch Nirai Kujen explained its history as his emblem and advised him to resume using the gold-on-red version.Revenant Gun, Chapter 7 Jedao did, but ordered the emblem displayed upside down to confuse his enemies when his command moth bannered before battle.Revenant Gun, Chapter 13 Jedao later removed the Deuce of Gears from the jeng-zai deck given to him by Commander Kel Talaw, rendering the deck unfit for divination or fair gameplay.Revenant Gun, Chapter 37 Trivia * The Deuce was engraved on the grip of Jedao's favored personal firearm, the Patterner 52.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21 It was also engraved in a bronze bowl used for a place setting in the black cradle facilityNinefox Gambit, Chapter 6 and displayed on the door to Jedao's quarters on the Revenant.Revenant Gun, Chapter 9 * Jedao knew a number of card tricks based around the Deuce of Gears. He taught some to High General Kel AnienRevenant Gun, Chapter 20 and used to show them to Kujen.Revenant Gun, Chapter 7 * After the destruction of her swarm, Cheris scratched the Deuce of Gears into the deck of the cindermoth Unspoken Law, splitting the symbol with the characters for 1,082,771, the sum of the casualties in the swarm and on Hellspin Fortress.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 23 * Vahenz afrir dai Noum doubted that any Kel could be coerced to serve under the Deuce due to its connection to Jedao.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9 However, General Khiruev's Swanknot Swarm subsequently did serve under the Deuce, as their antipathy for it could not overcome formation instinct. References Category:Categorize Category:Add quote